Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

In Bruges
Focus Features


8.2

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 92 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use

Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Clemence Posey

Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But the longer they stay waiting for Harry's call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloe, who may have some dark secrets of her own. And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences. (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Martin McDonagh
DIRECTED BY:	Martin McDonagh
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 24, 2008 Theatrical: February 8, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / Belgium

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

An endlessly surprising, very dark, human comedy, with a plot that cannot be foreseen but only relished.

100

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie gradually deepens from odd-couple comedy into Catholic-themed drama, but it remains marvelously funny throughout. Instead of hitting the easy notes of black humor, McDonagh skillfully modulates between broad character laughs and the men's piercing anguish as the story nears its bloody conclusion.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

When it's funny, it's hilarious; when it's serious, it's powerful; and either way, it's an endless pleasant surprise.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Sharply written, superbly acted, funny and even occasionally touching.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Tightly scripted and intricately plotted, the buddy film manages the neat two-step of being simultaneously profane and engaging.

Empire Damon Wise

With In Bruges, the British gangster movie gets a Croydon facelift. It may not be new, but it’s a wonderfully fresh take on a familiar genre: fucked-up, far-out and very, very funny.

Film Threat Jeremy Mathews

In a film full of great performances, Ralph Feinnes steals the show as Harry, the boss.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The heroes are two hit men, and the tone is often absurdist. But the film is also very funny and surprisingly affecting.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Dark, hilarious and oddly moving.

Washington Post John Anderson

Those who know McDonagh's work know a vein of darkness will run deeply through the comedy. It has seldom been darker. Or funnier. He has made a hit-man movie in which you don't know what will happen and can't wait to find out. Every movie should be so cliched.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A haunting and hypnotic movie, just the thing to get lost in.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A perfectly titled and thoroughly engaging -- if at times gleefully violent -- black comedy.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This finale, which piles one bloody absurd epiphany on top of another almost ad infinitum, is where McDonagh lays all his cards on the table -- and his characters are the ones who have to pay up.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

After playing one too many sullen poseurs it’s clear Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes had a ball making an inky black comedy seething with grandiose invective.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Witty and lively, with a soul to it, as well.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Little more than a shaggy-dog tale about two hit men killing time in the picturesque, medieval Belgian city of the title, goosed with crackling dialogue and generous dollops of gore.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

In Bruges, at its best, works like "Pulp Fiction" with Irish (and Belgian) accents, digressing into weird discourse and giving a bunch of actors the occasion to shine in small, peculiar roles.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Dry humor keeps In Bruges fresh and lively and makes it a whole lot of fun to watch.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

A dark comedy with a melancholy streak and punchy sense of humor.

Slate Dana Stevens

A jolly mess of a movie. Overplotted, choppy, and contrived, it nonetheless has a curious vitality that makes you wonder where McDonagh will go next.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

Chock full of wonderful lines delivered by a splendid cast, the film toys with the conventions and mostly transcends the limitations.

Variety Robert Koehler

Closer to pics like “The Hit” and “Miller’s Crossing” than to McDonagh’s bristling, funny plays, this half-comic, half-serious account of two Irish hitmen who are sent to the titular Belgian burg to cool their heels after a job is moderately fair as a nutty character study, but overly far-fetched once the action kicks in.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The acting is top-notch. Colin Farrell, who seems to be gravitating increasingly toward smaller films, effectively channels his manic energy. He and Brendan Gleeson display chemistry in the Odd Couple vein, occasionally giving rise to instances of humor. Ralph Fiennes plays one of the most twisted roles of his career.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The setting is unique, the cast is terrific, the dialogue crackles and, if only there were a plot worth believing, In Bruges might have been a fine film.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The banter between these unlikely partners seems inspired by Quentin Tarantino's ingeniously insipid dialogue, delivered with indelible deadpan sincerity by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in "Pulp Fiction." Neither the dialogue nor the characters are as interesting here.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Fiennes's energy gets the film over the finish line.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Mr. Gleeson, Mr. Farrell and especially the late-arriving and welcome Mr. Fiennes have great fun rummaging around inside Mr. McDonagh’s modest bag of tricks.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Neither star is sloppy, but both are loose and mellow -- a couple of pros who know they're the whole show.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's a showpiece for that Belgian city's medieval splendor. You may want to book vacation reservations upon leaving the theater, although the memory of this underwhelming movie may tarnish the sightseeing.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

For In Bruges to click, McDonagh needed either to get more real or more fake.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Bruges may be the movie's rather too-long-running joke, but Farrell's shaggy brow is easily the most entertaining thing in Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's first foray into the crime caper.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The film's light comedy and dark morality make for an unsettling mix.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

As formulaic in its own way as anything mainstream Hollywood turns out, In Bruges is also a fish-out-of-water comedy.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

No one wants a movie that tiptoes in step with political correctness, yet the willful opposite can be equally noxious, and, as In Bruges barges and blusters its way through dwarf jokes, child-abuse jokes, jokes about fat black women, and moldy old jokes about Americans, it runs the risk of pleasing itself more than its paying viewers.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 92 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Wepmajo E gave it a10:
Perfect from start to finish. The dry sometimes extremely dark humor shoots your funny bone as the dramatic scenes shoot through your nerves. Great performances all around, beautiful locales, excellent pacing. By far the best movie of last year.

Al P gave it a10:
Don't believe the negativity. Everyone I know has taken something different from this film but they all loved it and so did I. It is a movie that just begs to be watched right through in one sitting and manages to switch from absurd to disturbing to hilarious whilst still remaining completely believeable thanks to the quality of the script and actors.

Tony S. gave it a10:
Best of the year. and brilliantly acted by principals.

Mark H. gave it a3:
The film tries so hard to be politically incorrect and indie odd that it comes across as a parody of itself. The illogical story lines and impossible timing of events make this an unbearable and embarassing movie to sit through.

t r gave it a10:
Great actors, terrific atmosphere and a humor blacker than the night, so it´s just a great film.

Bill T. gave it a9:
Excellent and brooding dark comedy, with well defined characters and good performances from the main 5/6 actors, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Tamara M. gave it a10:
One can't ask more of a film than gorgeous cinematography, a brilliant script and actors whose performance delves deep and perfectly carries the multifaceted, rich dark humor clothed in a perfect story.

In Bruges Focus Features

In Bruges
Focus Features